


All That Remains

by HighlyOpinionatedNerd



Category: Bleach
Genre: Grimm and Harribel both think the other is incredibly annoying, Hope you like it!, set pretty much immediately after Ichigo's battle with Aizen, somehow they manage to become friends anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-02-23 05:44:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23839990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighlyOpinionatedNerd/pseuds/HighlyOpinionatedNerd
Summary: Harribel and Grimmjow forge an unlikely alliance in the wake of Aizen's defeat.
Relationships: Tia Harribel & Grimmjow Jaegerjaques
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	All That Remains

There was a storm raging across the surface of Hueco Mundo when Harribel returned from the land of the living. The normally blindingly-bright landscape was all but unrecognizable in the darkness, making it hard for her to get her bearings. Strong, driving winds pelted her with rain, and the wet sand pulled at her feet from beneath.

So she directed her steps towards the base of a nearby cliff, which she hoped would offer at least a little protection from the wind as she walked. The wounds Aizen had left on her were still fresh, throbbing painfully with every step, and she needed to conserve her strength as much as possible.

It wasn’t that she had ever really trusted him, really, she thought distantly as she walked. Aizen. What hollow in their right mind would trust any soul reaper, let alone one like him? But she had...well, respected him, in a sense. He was strong. He was dedicated to his cause. She knew the perils of playing his game and she had been prepared to play along, at least for a while.

But what he’d done in that battle in the land of the living was unforgivable. Harribel didn’t have the words to describe how angry, how utterly disgusted she was with herself for letting it happen. She’d _known_ what he was like. Knew how he liked to watch his little schemes play out in the palm of his hand, knew how much he liked to show off his powers. And she’d deluded herself into thinking she was following along, that she knew how it would all end. She’d fallen for it just the same as all the rest. And now she was paying the price.

A sudden sensation interrupted her thoughts- the feeling of a familiar presence up ahead.

Harribel paused, frowning. She wondered who was all the way out here in the middle of a storm like this. She couldn’t quite place where she had felt this presence before, but she knew she had.

There was a narrow opening in the rocks ahead. She could just make it out, if she squinted.

The sudden thought of even a momentary respite from the rain far outweighed the risk of a potential altercation with whoever was already inside to Harribel, exhausted as she was. So she ducked into the shallow cave. But as she did so she kept one hand on the hilt of her sword, just in case.

At the back of the cave, slumped against the wall with his head hanging low, was Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. There was no mistaking the humanoid form, the shock of blue hair, the distinctive jawbone mask.

His head snapped up as she rounded the corner, and he quickly raised his blade in front of him defensively.

Harribel stopped short. For a moment, the two of them just stared at each other, frozen, waiting to see if the other would make a move.

“I thought you were dead,” Harribel said into the silence.

Grimmjow barked an entirely mirthless laugh. “So did I. You and I are living the same goddamn fever dream, I guess.”

As he spoke he cautiously lowered his sword again. Harribel released her grip on Tiburon, too. She could see now that what was left of his white jacket was wrapped clumsily around his torso. The makeshift bandages were stained with blood.

“What are you doing here?” he continued. His voice sounded ragged and strained. “Where are all the others?”

“Dead.”

“All of them?”

“So far as I know.”

“Damn. And...Aizen?”

Harribel shrugged. “Gone,” she said shortly.

“Gone?” Grimmjow demanded, pushing himself up a little straighter. “What do you mean, gone, how can he be gone?”

“I don’t know. I can only assume that it was the soul reapers. Probably with help from your friend, Kurosaki.”

“...Oh.” 

Grimmjow was silent again for a time, processing that. Harribel watched all the conflicting emotions swirling behind his eyes- confusion, mostly, but mingled with relief, and anger, and regret, all at once. And she wondered which ones he was seeing reflected in her own eyes.

“So, it’s over then?” Grimmjow asked quietly. “Just like that?”

“...I guess it is.”

Harribel turned, bracing herself to return out into the storm.

“Where are you going?” Grimmjow called after her as she started to walk away.

“To Barragan’s palace. There’s no one there anymore. Someone has to run this place.”

“What, and that’s you?”

She stopped, and looked back over her shoulder at him. “Unless you want to challenge me for it.”

For a split second, she almost thought he would. She could almost see him raising his sword again, lunging at her. Both of them were injured, and in that moment she honestly didn’t know which one of them would come out on top in a fight.

But then the moment passed.

“No,” he said, lowering his eyes. “I don’t want it.”

Harribel nodded slowly. Their battle would remain unfought, then, after all.

“Maybe that’s for the best.”

She left the cave, left Grimmjow behind, and carried on through the storm towards the palace.

Grimmjow spent a few more days in that little cave. His body rested, his wounds healed. But his mind was restless, constantly replaying everything that had happened since Aizen had first come to Hueco Mundo. The more he obsessed over it, the less sense any of it seemed to make.

Only when he could stand up without having to support himself on the wall again did it occur to him that he had nowhere to go. The area he had once claimed as his own was long gone. His fracciones were gone. The rest of the Espada were gone. All he had were unanswered questions and dead comrades.

Well. All except one.

He had a hunch, based just on their last, brief little interaction, that Harribel wouldn’t really want to talk to him about what had happened. She never had been much of a talker, really. Maybe she was just as confused as he was about it all. But what else was he supposed to do?

He went to the palace. There were a few hollows hanging around near the entrance, in the min hall. But none of them bothered him.

Harribel wasn’t in the throne room, so he just sort of wandered around for a bit, until he could sense her presence and track her down.

He found her in one of the basement levels, one of the only places in Hueco Mundo that was truly free from any touch of the blistering sun. She was sitting beside one of her three fracciones, all of whom were laid out carefully on the stone, eyes closed, immobile.

Grimmjow remembered distantly that she had been very close with her fracciones. Their spiritual presences were all extremely low. Low enough that he could tell that it was a miracle that any of them had survived what had been done to them in the first place.

Harribel hadn’t seemed to have noticed him, apparently lost in thought.

“Hey,” he said as he approached, not wanting to sneak up on her. “How’s the whole queen thing going?”

“Go away,” she said without looking at him. Ok, maybe not as lost in thought as he had suspected, then.

“I have questions,” he said stubbornly. “I want to hear more about what happened.”

“Find someone else to ask.”

“There is no one else! Look, I just want you to tell me what you saw. Please.”

She finally turned to look at him, silently sizing him up, deciding what to do with him. He made a point to keep his hands as far away from the hilt of his blade as possible.

“There’s not much to tell,” she finally said. “We split up to take on the soul reapers there to meet us. Aizen sat there and let us fight. Biding his time, I guess. And when he was done waiting, he killed those of us that were left.”

“Everyone?”

“Us. His hollows.”

“Why? Why not kill the soul reapers too, if he had that kind of power? Why bother killing us, if he was just going to leave them alive? Or was he planning to kill them, too?”

“I don’t know. I lost consciousness.” Harribel’s eyes drifted back to her listless fracciones. “He just said that we were weak. A disappointment.”

Grimmjow squeezed his eyes shut. “So he really was just using us to waste time,” he said, and it was an effort to keep himself from screaming out in frustration.

“I suppose so.”

Grimmjow took a few deep breaths, willing himself to calm down. He still had questions. Harribel wouldn’t answer him if he lost his temper.

“But you survived,” he continued, after a moment. “He hurt you, but he didn’t actually kill you.”

“No, he didn’t. I can’t explain it any better than you can. But I guess it just didn’t matter to him one way or another.”

“And the soul reapers? They must have realized that you weren’t dead, right?”

“I don’t know. There were other things going on, you know. By the time I woke up they were all gone.”

“What about them,” Grimmjow asked, gesturing to Harribel’s fracciones. “Did Aizen do that to them, too?”

“Not directly. But he may as well have. It was all part of his plan.”

“You had to go back to find them, right? And there was no one else alive?”

“No.”

“So we’re really all that’s left.”

“These three won’t die,” Harribel said firmly. “I won’t let that happen. They’ll live through this, too.”

Grimmjow frowned. “What about all that stuff about sacrifice being the price for living, or whatever? Don’t you believe any of that any more?”

“I’m through sacrificing,” she said quietly. “From now on I’m just going to live.”

Grimmjow smiled. The first time he’d done so in what felt like ages.

“Now you’re finally starting to sound like a hollow.”

“Shut up. That’s all I know, so you can leave now.”

“Alright, alright, fine. I’m going.”

“Next time you have questions,” she called after him as he turned to go, “you can bring them to _court_ along with all the others.”

“Sure, sure,” Grimmjow said, raising a hand in acknowledgement, and kept walking.

Maybe he had misjudged how well he actually knew Harribel. He had never expected her to be the kind of person to want to take the throne. Or to get that attached to her fracciones. Even after he had come after her in private she had still all but invited him back again.

He has a feeling she would make a very interesting queen.

A few days later, Grimmjow turned up at the palace again. This time, however, he had the good sense to mind his own business. Just skulked around the shadows at the edge of the throne room while Harribel held her court meeting. She ignored him, and he didn’t bother her, for which she was grateful. She needed to be able to devote all her attention to figuring out what was going on in Hueco Mundo, and what she was going to do about it.

Over the next couple of days, however, he kept coming. She supposed she shouldn’t really be that surprised. She certainly had grown accustomed to knowing all the ins and outs of their realm, living under Aizen. Maybe he had, too.

Eventually he grew bolder. Emerged from the shadows to voice his opinion that all of her advisors- mostly the survivors who had filled similar roles under Barragan- were all idiots, and that none of their suggestions would ever work.

“Thank you for your input,” Harribel had said flatly. “Do you have any better ideas?”

“Any idea is a better idea.”

“Until you can provide me with something a little more concrete than that, we’re going to move ahead with the current strategy. And _you_ will hold your tongue,” she added sternly before he could object again.

“Psh. Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

After that, he retreated back to his corner. For which she was definitely thankful- she didn’t want to fight another Arrancar if she didn’t have to. 

But he did keep coming around, watching her.

And she didn’t stop him.

“We have news, my Lady,” one of her advisors told her one day, about two weeks after she had taken the throne, “of the situation in the west.”

“And what is that,” Harribel prompted. God, these lower hollows could be so annoyingly cautious sometimes.

“Well,” the advisor said tentatively, “it is...not good, my Lady. There is a large faction, reportedly headed by an Adjuchas named Corril, that is heavily resisting your ascension. Corril has a large amount of influence, and if he refuses to accept you as Queen, it is probable that others will follow in his footsteps.”

Harribel frowned. She had thought it was probably only a matter of time until the need for a show of force would become necessary. That was pretty much the only thing most hollows would respond to, anyway. But she hadn’t bargained on it happening so soon. Her fracciones were still recovering, and there were other urgent matters demanding her attention that she was very reluctant to leave.

“What course of action should we take, my Lady?”

“...Nothing. There’s nothing you could do about this guy anyway. Grimmjow Jaegerjacquez!”

Grimmjow started, frowning. “What?”

“You will go and deal with Corril.”

“Me?! Why should I have to do it? I ain’t one of your little pet dancing monkeys! Get someone else!”

“You want to keep coming around here?” Harribel said, crossing her arms. “Then earn your keep. Do as I say.”

Grimmjow bristled, but she stared him down, and eventually he gave in.

“Fine,” he said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “But I want my old room back.”

“Fine.”

“And access to the training rooms that Granz programmed. And a new damn jacket.”

“Fine. Anything else?”

“Give me a day or two and I’m sure I’ll come up with something,” Grimmjow growled. “So, what, you want me to bring you this Corril guy?”

“No, that won’t be necessary. Just give him the message that resistance won’t be tolerated.”

“Yeah, yeah, but what if he don’t agree?”

“If he attacks you, kill him,” Harribel shrugged. “But let him make the first move.”

“Fine.”

Grimmjow stalked off, muttering angrily under his breath. Harribel’s advisors watched him go, wide-eyed and silent.

“That’s that taken care of,” Harribel said. “Was there anything else?”

Grimmjow returned to the palace two days later, bringing with him a fragmented piece of Corril’s mask and the news that his faction was now professing (outwardly, at least) loyalty to the new queen.

Harribel thanked him, gave him what he had asked for before leaving, and informed him that she reserved the right to send him out again as she saw fit. He just grunted and wandered off.

If it were anyone else, she wouldn’t have tolerated that kind of attitude. It was important for a queen to keep up appearances, after all. 

But she thought it for the best that she let Grimmjow be. He had done what she’d asked, after all. For whatever unfathomable reason, he had decided to take her side in all this. 

And that was enough for her.

A few days later, during one of Harribel’s few moments of respite, she stepped out onto the balcony attached to her suite of rooms and rested her elbows on the rail. A strong breeze ruffled her hair and clothes, and the hot sun beat down and warmed her face. It was the kind of quiet, peaceful day she had always liked best about Hueco Mundo.

Quite suddenly, the quiet was shattered by the sound of her door being kicked open and Grimmjow’s voice yelling, “Harribel!”

She sighed. She should know better by now than to expect the quiet to last very long.

“Out here,” she called, waving to Grimmjow from across the room.

“Have you heard what they’re saying out there,” he demanded as he approached, jabbing a finger in the direction of the throne room, “about Kurosaki?”

Harribel paused. “Yes,” she said carefully, “I’ve heard.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“And is it true?”

“It doesn’t matter-”

“Tell me!”

Harribel sighed. “It’s true. He’s been completely stripped of all his powers. He wouldn’t even be able to tell if you were standing in front of him, from what I’ve heard.”

“Wh...How, how did this happen?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” she shrugged.

Grimmjow stood in silence for a moment, apparently shocked speechless.

“That’s...that’s not fair,” he said eventually. “That’s not _fair_!”

“The affairs of mortals don’t concern us.”

“It doesn’t concern you, maybe! What about me?”

“What _about_ you?”

“We never settled our fight!,” Grimmjow insisted. “He _owes_ me that, dammit, Harribel!”

Harribel sighed again. She had been worried something like this might happen.

“You think he wanted this to happen?” she asked. “Whatever’s going on with Kurosaki, it’s not about you.”

Grimmjow shook his head, avoiding her gaze. Harribel had never seen him looking this agitated before. He looked almost on the verge of tears.

“You don’t get it,” he muttered. “He left me alive. He had me, he could have killed me, but he didn’t. Hell, he fucking _protected_ me. Why else would he do that? Why else would he keep me alive?”

“Have you considered that he was being kind?” Harribel suggested quietly. “He’s not like us, you know. He’s human. He’s a child. He can afford to be kind.”

“He’s part hollow, too,” Grimmjow said. “Doesn’t that count for anything?”

“I don’t know.”

For a moment the two of them stood there in silence, watching the wind sweep across the white sand dunes.

“Do you think it was Aizen,” Grimmjow asked, leaning against the balcony railing beside Harribel, “that took Kurosaki’s powers away?”

“How would he have done that?”

“I don’t fucking know. All I know is that Kurosaki was just as caught up in that stupid plan of his, just like the rest of us.”

“Maybe so,” Harribel said. “I’ve never heard of another human with soul reaper powers, let alone hollow powers, too. I could see why Aizen would be interested in him.”

“Fuck him,” Grimmjow spat venemously. “Aizen, I mean. Seriously, fuck that guy for what he did to us. For everything he put us through.”

“Mm.” Harribel closed her eyes.

“Honestly, I...I don’t know what to do anymore. Y’know? No Aizen, no Espada. No Kurosaki. Just like that. What’s left, after all that’s gone?”

“We are.” Harribel turned and looked Grimmjow directly in the eyes. “You and me. Even after everything Aizen threw at us, we survived. Us, and everyone else in this palace, in this world. We’re still here. We can come back from this.”

“You don’t really believe that.”

“Yes I do. I believe that Hueco Mundo has languished under the rule of power-mad men for so long that we’ve forgotten what we once were. But I feel like I have a real chance here, to change things.”

“I don’t know. Maybe, if it’s you.”

“I’ll need your help, to make it happen.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

“Grimmjow. I mean it. I want to change things, and I’m asking for your help.”

A ghost of a smile played at the corners of Grimmjow’s mouth. “You’re in charge here, you know. You don’t have to ask.”

“Literally just got done telling you I’m trying to change things around here. Who do you take me for, Barragan?”

She made a face, and he actually laughed. 

“Ahh, shit. Alright. Fine. I guess we’ll change the world, then.”

“No.”

“What! Why not?”

“She’s busy. Anything you have to say to her, you can say to me instead.”

Nel gulped, fighting the urge to hide behind Dondochaka’s legs.

“W-we...We, the Great Desert Siblings, have come to swear our allegiance to the queen,” she said, as bravely as she could muster.

“Noted,” Grimmjow said flatly, standing stubbornly between them and the palace with his arms crossed, scowling. “You can leave now.”

“Wait! We were...well, I was hoping to talk to her? Just for a moment! I promise I won’t take up too much of her time!”

Grimmjow’s scowl deepened. “Listen, kid.”

“Nel.”

“Whatever. Don’t think I’ve forgotten your involvement with Kurosaki and his friends. Seeing as your head is still attached to your shoulders, I’d say I’ve been more than generous already! Give me _one reason_ why I should let the likes of _you_ anywhere near the queen.”

“Oh,” Nel said quietly. “Um...yeeeessssss, it is true that we showed Ichigo the way to the palace…and we may have, uh, helped him a little bit in his fight against the Espada...”

“It was just a little bit!” Pesche put in. “They did all the real work, honest!”

“Well, except for Nnoitra.”

“Dondochaka, shut up! You’re not helping!”

“I’m just telling the truth! Isn’t it better to be honest-”

“No! No, it’s not! You’re going to get us all eaten, you big-mouthed-”

“Nnoitra?” Grimmjow interrupted, frowning.

“Alright, fine, I admit it,” Nel said, “I did kill Nnoitra! That one was on me, but I deeply apologize for it! I’m sorry! Please don’t eat us!”

“You. Killed Nnoitra. Yeah right.”

“Well, I did it in my big form…”

“In your what?”

“Look, I don’t exactly know how it works either! That’s why I wanted to speak to the queen. I thought maybe she might be able to answer some of my questions.”

Grimmjow sighed. “She’s not exactly the question-answering type, kid. I don’t know if she knows anything more than I do, but. Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to ask.”

“Really!? Thank-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shut up before I change my mind.”

“Hey, you in here?”

“Don’t you ever knock?”

“Sorry,” Grimmjow shrugged, not looking particularly sorry. “Did you speak to the kid?”

“Nel? Yes, I did. It’s...fascinating, her situation, isn’t it?”

“Not in the slightest. I don’t trust her.”

“She’ll be staying here, at the palace, for now.”

“What! Why?”

“Because she’s one of _us_ , you idiot! An Espada!”

“That brat is not an Espada,” Grimmjow scoffed. “Are you feeling ok over there?”

“The broken mask and human form weren’t enough to clue you in?” Harribel raised an eyebrow. “If you had bothered to stick around for that conversation, you’d have seen that she has the mark, too.”

“No way.”

“She was the third Espada, once. Before I was.”

Grimmjow blinked in surprise. “...Really?”

“Yes, really. We still don’t have a clear picture of exactly what happened to her, but it doesn’t matter. She’s one of us. An Espada. A survivor.”

“Huh. Will she, like...I don’t know, grow? Back to the way she was?”

“I don’t know. I kind of doubt it. I’ve never known any hollow that aged the way a human does. But anything could happen. Those of us that Aizen...modified...I don’t know. Anything could happen.”

“Well. I guess it might not be a bad idea to keep her around, then. To monitor all that. I won’t be responsible for her and her idiot fracciones, though. That’s on you.”

“Fine by me. Now will you go back to your own rooms already? Some of us have actual work to do, you know.”

“Harribel,” Grimmjow said loudly, sticking his head through her door, “you got a sec?”

“Oh look,” said Sun-Sun from where she sat on the edge of Harribel’s desk, “the queen’s favorite concubine has returned.”

“Ha ha, very funny. Where’s Harribel?”

“That’s Harribel- _sama_ to you.”

“Enough, enough,” Harribel said, emerging from the other room, rolling her eyes. “Ladies, you have your assignments. You may go.”

“Yes, Harribel-sama.”

“Yeah, go on. Shoo.”

“Hey! Don’t you go getting any ideas that _you_ can tell us what to do, just because of your favored concubine status!”

“Yeah!”

“ _Enough_ already!”

The Tres Bestias reluctantly took their leave. Apacci stuck her tongue out at Grimmjow on her way out.

“And what do you want?” Harribel asked, moving over to sit on the edge of her bed.

“Make them stop calling me that.”

“No. Work it out with them yourself.”

“I never did anything to them,” Grimmjow insisted, flopping down on the bed next to Harribel.

Harribel rolled her eyes again. She was used to his complete disregard for personal space by now.

“Did you come here for a specific reason? Or just to make an ass of yourself?”

“Come spar with me tonight.”

“What for?”

“What do you mean, what for? What else do people spar for? Come on, it’s been a little while since either of us had a decent sparring partner. What’s the harm?”

“Our power sets aren’t a good match, and you know it.”

“So what? It’ll be good training. You don’t have to take it easy on me, I can take it.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Come oooooonnnn, Harribel. I’m going out of my mind, here. All your enemies are weak as hell. Let’s have a real fight, for once!”

“You just don’t know when to quit, do you.”

“Nope. Never have. Doubt I’ll ever learn.”

“Alright, fine. But not tonight. I have a meeting. Tomorrow.”

“Ok, tomorrow. In the big training room, in the basement?”

“I’d rather somewhere that won’t get flooded.”

“Somewhere outside in the open, then.”

“Agreed.”

“Alright, I’ll see you then,” he said, standing up to leave. “Thanks, Harribel.”

“Hang on a second, actually, Grimmjow. I want your opinion on this plan my advisors proposed.”

“Really?”

“Well, since you’re the one who’s going to be responsible for carrying it out, I figured I might as well ask. Unless you don’t want to, of course.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” he said, sitting down next to her again. “Tell me about it.”

**Author's Note:**

> I love the idea of these two coming together to help each other heal from the shared trauma of what Aizen did to them, and actually becoming good friends along the way. I just think they'd be good for each other. It also adds an extra layer to Grimmjow's appearance in the Quincy arc, too, if you look at it like that; he would want revenge on the Quincys for what they did to Harribel in their conquest of Hueco Mundo.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
